Coloring Outside the Lines

One of the biggest challenges I have faced as a parent is learning that there is not only one way to do things.  Train tracks do not have to form a figure eight, peanut butter can be eaten straight from the jar, you don't have to color in the lines.

We went to a Halloween party where he had some stickers to decorate pumpkins to make them look carved.  If I had done it I would've made them look how they are 'supposed' to look.  The way he did it, however, was way cooler.  One looked extra nervous, one looked extra dopey.

It's hard because I grew up where everything had a right way and a wrong way.  I was always taught there was one way to load the dishwasher.  The one way that maximized the number of dishes while maximizing the effectiveness of the wash.  When I was married, I used to scold the ex for putting the dishes in wrong.  Until one day he stopped doing it because he always did it "wrong".  I realized I was the wrong one.

I grew up with a couple of family members who suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  When you grow up like that you believe that is normal.

Its hard trying to keep a balance between teaching him how things work and allowing him to play however he chooses.